Paris, Part 1

seen around Paris this weekend. I love that Christmas is out and about in the city--packages in front of Goyard, lights on the lanes in Montmartre, trees outside of restaurant patios. In addition to Deux Cheveaux, there's a new transport option: the city bikes, which are very 60s space age looking.

thanks Erin!

maiden voyage

Possibly the most boring launch location ever- fetid canal in condo/office park land- but she paddles great!

xmas round London

mango-coconut

wish you were here to sample!

A

Please come soon!

Addendum

The seat- a take home project for the evening. McMaster stickybacked foam. The catalogue said gray, I wish it was lighter...

new kayak photos

L

Looking more greenlandish than ever. Minus the seal leather.

Blurry detail of cockpit front. This is why we must solicit professional photographers- because it's really a nice detail.

This is new to this prototype- an adjustable footrest. Pretty much all kayaks have them- they make it more comfortable to sit (it keeps your knees bent so they don't cramp up) and, along with the currently nonexistent thigh braces, let you wedge yourself into the boat and control its stability with your legs and hips. Rigid kayaks have notched tracks bolted onto both sides; this uses adjustable straps tied back to the central rib. A bungee cord to the bow keeps the straps in tension when your feet aren't on the rest. Commercial folders seem to have similar systems.

The bow has a fairing made of pvc pipe to streamline the front where it's folded inward, and protect against impact and abrasion. The pvc proved impossible to weld or glue, its held together by slightly janky rivets and metal braces on the back side. The final fairing would be thermoformed from one piece of plastic. The fairing is attached by cinching the cord that goes back inside the kayak. Its held taught by a little carabiner thingy- this will also let you attach ropes to the front of the boat really easily for towing or mooring.

Saturday + Sunday

Two days, same view from the sofa:
Saturday the sun was shining over the rooftops across the street, and inspired me to go for a long run. Turns out London is a great place for running—lots of people out and about doing the same, the river is gorgeous and active, and plenty of sights and sounds to keep a run interesting. I ran by the Design Museum (stopping for David Chipperfield and Dieter Rams shows), Borough Market (stopping for a warm bowl of green Thai chili, much gastronomic browsing, and gingerbread man cookie) and the Tate Modern (stopping for the Turbine Room).
Sunday—it poured all day, reminding me that one of the most exciting things about skylights has to do with sound rather than light. Yes, they bring us blue skies on sunny days, and the stars and moon at nighttime, but they also bring close the sound and rhythm of rain on days like this!

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Is it time to go see The Fantastic Mister Fox?

Shoreditch

Hilarious that the building number (123) is written on the building in the reverse order of the names of the floors (1st, 2nd, 3rd)...and on the same building's Ground level—nice use of Dixie cups as signage! Redchurch Street.

Loungelovers, a bar I haven't been to, but I like their street signage.

This [bar?] made me think of burrowing owls at the Berkeley Marina—out and about in daylight!

From the bandstand in the middle of Arnold Circus, a very beautiful roundabout with striped brick buildings encircling it: the glowy ground floor are the lights of Leila's Shop, a small cafe where it looks like you're part of the kitchen when you eat there—I want to go!

Little Slice

I think architecture training is the best single ingredient for enjoying walking around cities...everything is interesting, everything tells a story. I'm biased, of course, but similarly, botany is an enviable education for hikes...

In Shoreditch new bits are interspersed along old streets. This little slice of a house was notable for the datum lines it picked up from its neighbors. And for having a very low roof deck in London—possibly more like an outdoor room judging by the high glass walls. Starkly modern buildings make a vastly better story in old neighborhoods than postmodern buildings like the one in the background that probably thought it was 'fitting in' and getting 'contextual' with its brickwork, but looks awful now.

BARN

Aerials

Even though its the massive, figural earth-moving in the Indian Ocean that gets all the press (The Palm, The World, the second Palm), I actually find looking at the copy-rotate-paste buildings and developments, and the extremely rational roads (so rational they're often called names like 27A and 36G) from the air the most fascinating. Top—the tiny bit of The World that I caught from the plane. The bottom photos are better when you click to enlarge them...